ADENOSINE SYSTEM DYNAMICS AND SK CHANNELS MODULATE BASOLATERAL AMYGDALA PYRAMIDAL CELL EXCITABILITY: IMPLICATIONS FOR ANXIETY DISORDERS AND COMORBID ETHANOL ABUSE

Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) impart serious social and economic costs on society. For example, nearly 1 in 18 Americans abuses or is addicted to alcohol, contributing nearly $234 billion per year in socioeconomic costs. Despite this, effective pharmacological treatments remain elusive. To aid in the development of novel treatment strategies, researchers have turned their attention to the neuropsychiatric diseases that may precede or become exacerbated by AUDs. While motivation for alcohol consumption can vary by individual, clinical and epidemiological evidence indicates a robust comorbidity between AUDs and anxiety disorders. For example, individuals with preexisting anxiety disorders are at least twice as likely to develop AUDs, and alcoholism is consistently observed at a higher rate in individuals with anxiety disorders than in the general population. Adding to this relationship, individuals with a comorbid anxiety disorder display greater rates of relapse(Martin-Fardon and Weiss, 2013)(Martin-Fardon and Weiss, 2013)(Martin-Fardon and Weiss, 2013)(Martin-Fardon and Weiss, 2013)(Martin-Fardon and Weiss, 2013), and epidemiological studies indicate that the age of onset of AUDs is earlier in individuals with anxiety disorders.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Rau, Andrew

• Adenosine

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/57097

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/57097